http://www.amendmentgazette.com/ The OECD has warned that increasingly concentrated wealth at the top of society spells disaster for the world’s economy. Frances Russell writes: When the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Continue readingAuthor: Owen Gray
Northern Reflections: Taxes Or Integrity?
It’s beginning to look like taxes — whose tax cuts are best — will be the central theme of the next election. But, Lawrence Martin writes, if the central theme is integrity, the Harperites will be toast: So let’s say an audit is being done on you or your organization
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Reform? Forget It.
http://www.nationalpost.com/ Michael Chong’s Reform Act is about to die in the Senate. Andrew Coyne writes: The private member’s bill, introduced by Conservative MP Michael Chong, is popular with the public, as the first serious attempt to free MPs, even a little, from the iron grip of
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: From The Bottom Up
http://thehealthcareblog.com/ It’s no secret that Stephen Harper hates government. For almost a decade, he has worked maniacally to reduce the size and the scope of the federal government. At the same time, he has steadfastly refused to meet with the premiers. Somewhere along the line, he forgot that Canada
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Changing The Frame
George Lakoff, a Professor of Cognitive Science at UC Berkeley, argues that we all see the world through brain structures he calls frames: Those brain structures are called “frames.” If the facts don’t fit your frames, the frames stay; the facts are ignored, belittled or attacked. The facts alone
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Becoming Their Own Targets.
http://what-buddha-said.net/ Chantal Hebert writes that it’s been a rough week for the Harperites. They’re beginning to look long in the tooth and extraordinarily incompetent. Consider Mr. Harper’s “surprise” trip to Iraq: The prime minister travels to Iraq and Kuwait — close to the frontline in the war
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Can She Stay In The Driver’s Seat?
http://www.kimberry.com/ Jim Prentice, the turn around and he’s gone premier of Alberta, used to be a member of The Trilateral Commission. Michael Harris reminds his readers
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: The Young Are Mobilizing
http://thetyee.ca/ The conventional wisdom holds that the young are disengaged from politics. But Samantha Power writes that Rachel Notley’s newly elected caucus
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: What’s The Difference?
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/ Tom Walkom writes that, if a Martian landed in North America’s Attic, with the express purpose of studying Canada’s three major political parties, he might
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Tax Cuts Only Work When There Are Jobs
http://www.theoslotimes.com Everybody’s talking about tax cuts. Stephen Harper has be doing it for six months. Yesterday, Justin Trudeau talked about tax cuts. It’s true that Trudeau’s
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: He Doesn’t Do Well In A Court Of Law
http://www.pressprogress.ca/ The Harper government is rushing to prevent Omar Khadr’s release from jail. The National Post reports: Federal lawyers have signalled to Khadr’s defence team that
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: The Not So Comfortable Pews
http://mic.com In the latest edition of The New York Review of Books, Gary Wills writes that Pope Francis is making the billionaires — particularly Catholic billionaires — quake. On the eve of his encyclical on climate change, they are mounting what they hope will be a pre-emptive strike: Now,
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Much That Smells Beneath
http://www.westernpest.com/ The Crown Prosecutor at the Duffy trial says that he wants to see the errant senator judged on the basis of “common sense.” It’s a strange
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Keeping the TPP Under Wraps
https://campaigns.350.org/ If there is one thing that distinguishes the Harper government from its predecessors it’s an obsession with secrecy. And that obsession is glaringly apparent in
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: His Waterloo
The chattering classes are praising Stephen Harper’s political smarts. He has set the agenda for the next election, they say, and he has delivered a budget that the opposition parties can’t fight. But Scott Clark and Peter DeVries disagree. Harper’s budget, they write, is too smart by half: The pundits
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: He Needs Another Closet
https://pilzylee.wordpress.com/ When it comes to shifting blame, Stephen Harper is a past master. Last week, in the House of Commons, he suggested that Mike Duffy made an
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: It Deserves A Horse Laugh
http://www.macleans.ca/ The tabling of the budget last week signalled the beginning of the election campaign. A careful reading of the document makes clear that Stephen Harper’s election strategy will be rooted in deceit. Michael Harris wrote: Still, no one should be surprised. This misbegotten government’s modus operandi is about
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Defying The Conventional Wisdom
Adrian Wyld / THE CANADIAN PRESS file photo Justin Trudeau appears to have ruled out any coalition arrangement with the NDP. But Chantal Hebert believes that such an arrangement is still possible: But what if, instead, the Conservatives finished only two
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Posing As A World Leader
http://www.ndtv.com/ Ostensibly, Indian Prime Minister Modi is in Canada to sign a uranium deal and ease visa restrictions between the two countries. Don’t believe it. Tim Harper writes: Take a look at the receiving line at the airport in Toronto and Vancouver for Modi. There you
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Insane And Stupid
http://julian.com.au/ The Harper government’s tough on crime agenda suffered yet another defeat this week. Expect to hear more heated rhetoric about Canada’s biased judicial system from Mr. Harper. But, Michael Spratt writes, judicial activism isn’t killing the government’s crime legislation. Stephen Harper is: The federal Conservatives have reduced criminal
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